Sunday, September 20, 2009

Barney really wishes he had gotten into this pic-a-nic basket before all the tea partiers emptied the contents. All he has left now is some scraps of honey left at the bottom of the jar.

Imagine, real life (nightmare work project) intruded on my stamping time this week. I am soooo late to the tea party its almost time for another one, but I've never been to Mississippi so I had to join in.

Poor Barney is going to overheat. Isn't it awfully warm for all that fur that far south? Wonder where we're going to go this week!

In addition to Teapot Tuesday, another challenge I enjoy that ALSO is listed on Tuesdays is Priscilla Styles Midnight Madness sketch challenges. Here the different elements of my card include the handle of the pic-a-nic basket in green gingham with some nice button closures. Barney is inside the basket eating his honey and there are two bees buzzing hopefully just outside wondering if there will be a smackerel left for them. I used dew drops for the flowers' center, they kind of looked like drops of honey to me. Thanks for looking.

Friday, September 18, 2009

So in honor of Gina developing the sketch I had to use Gina's stamps. This is a set from Gina K called Christmas Blessings designed by Asela Hopkins. These wooden reindeer sold me on it right away, although this was the first opportunity I'd had to use them! Another blog encouraged stampers to cut through images if need be, so to fit the sketch I boldly cut off part of the reindeer. Hope it didn't hurt. He is made of wood.

I don't know who made the DP, the green background is SU True Thyme, and you'd almost never guess it because the DP has such strong green/brown tones. Colored the reindeer with prismacolor pencils and gamsol. Ribbon and sentiment is from PTI, sentiment from the Believe set. Thanks for looking!

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

I couldn't remember from the sketch on Crazy 4 Challenges if we were allowed to add anything else or not. My internet was spotty, so I couldn't log on to check. . . picture this with a sentiment. :)

This is the stained glass window technique, I've shown it before with a birthday cake and fishies! (lurve my little fishies) Acetate, dries clear glitter glue, glitter in assorted colors. I was in a purple mood. Some days if the sun isn't shining right its a bit difficult to photograph a glitter card, just close your eyes and think bright thoughts, 'kay?

Friday, September 11, 2009

I always enjoy a sketch challenge. There is a new blog started, called Crazy for Challenges started by my friend Joanne and her talented friends who all love stamping. It appears to already be wildly popular by the number of posts. You'll find that blog here.

This also fits schirmcat's Word of the Week challenge for 'windswept.' It took me a while to think of something to match, but what is more windswept than Fall leaves?

I have to say my ribbon is the most pathetic looking thing I've seen in a while. It looked fine until I added the brads, a necessary part of the sketch and then it got all funky. . . oh well. I'll send this to someone who won't notice little details like that!

Thanks for looking. Stamps by Inkadinkado, punch Martha Stewart, top uses wrinkle free distress technique with Ranger inks and now I have to run, I'm taking my daughter to a soccer game to see her boyfriend play. He is a starter for his college team and we're pretty proud of that.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

The weather is warm on this estate in New York, but at least not as warm as Africa was last week! Whew!

The ladybugs are performing their own rescue from the Bug Thug as you can see, they have a net ready to spring on him as he is getting ready for our tea par-teee! As though anyone would invite a bug! They just bust into any outdoor gathering, you know how pushy they are.

Actually this is a very nice bug as you can see from his smile in the mirror and he probably is a good conversationalist too, so once the ladybugs realize their error and apologize and let him go, I think I'll chat with him as we sip our tea and eat our gluten free cookies.

I was pretty excited when I saw Mothermark's teapot challenge and Priscilla Styles' Midnight Madness sketch for this week because the idea for this card popped into my head right away. The layout for the sketch was perfect for the rescuing ladybugs!

The individual ladybugs are from an SU wheel, I rolled the wheel and then cut them individually. I wanted the ladybugs to look like buttons, so I colored them with copics and then added Crystal Effects glaze four times, drying inbetween, to give them a lot of dimension. The central image and the required side pieces for the sketch are both images from a Crafty Secrets set. I just love the images, they remind me of drawings from old books my mother had when she was a girl, or the illustrations from the original copies of the Wizard of Oz books. The other bugs I painted with reinkers, I have no idea whose paper I used and the rest is . . . there. :)

Also, if you click on the link for the Midnight Madness sketch challenge, you'll see my name there, I won some goodies from Seven Kids College Fund from last week's sketch. Thank you so much! I appreciate it greatly. Random draw, anyone can win who plays the sketch, so think about it!

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Grace is now a design team member for Our Daily Bread Designs stamps. So well deserved! She issued a pocket card challenge and I haven't made a pocket card in such a long time. I've never made a criss cross pocket card so this was a good opportunity to try it out. I do not own any ODBD stamps so cannot enter their contest, but you should check out their web site to see the beautiful creations others have made!

My other friend, Kelly or schirmcat, issued her Word of the Week second challenge last Wednesday and it was the word 'impearl.' I don't know why it took me almost a week to make a card using pearls, but here it is! I painted twinkling H20s on the vellum leaves and I colored some white pearls with a copic marker to match my color theme because I needed them to be orange. The marker I used is actually apricot. The twinkling H20s don't really settle into or soak into the vellum, so they shimmer in spots, as though it rained the night before!

The stamp from Boho Backgrounds seemed to match the DP design pretty well. I stamped it in PTI Melon Berry, stamped it off first and then used it as a background for the sentiment, which is in PTI Avocado. The leaf swirl on the inside pocket insert is Inkadinkado in gold craft with gold EP. Thanks for looking.

Saturday, September 5, 2009

The kids needed a 50th birthday card for a party they were attending today. I had never tried the recessed window technique and I kind of like it. although it is difficult to fit it into an envelope. This is 5.25" square. The recessed window is 3 1/4" and the recess is 1/4" deep. You'll find the tutorial for recessed window on Splitcoast stampers here.

This also fits the sketch challenge this week for Priscilla Styles' Midnight Madness. They're always challenging and fun, if you have a chance, you should play along.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Oh dear! This bird is just in time to get a bird's eye view of Zeke, Zena and the Zeebroids as they play their first concert in Africa!

She doesn't even need a backstage pass, she can just fly to a high branch and watch. She wants to reassure the Zebralski's that even though their son is a bird of a different feather, he'll turn out all right in the end . . . we think.

Africa is awfully hot, are we going to a cooler location next week? Hope so!

Teapot Tuesday challenges can be sort of confusing to the new reader. You'll find more information in Mothermark's blog listed under the dork sisters to your right. Thanks for looking!

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

This is a blog award from Grace, thank you so much Grace! I admire her work so much. She has had several guest designer positions and now has been asked to be a regular designer for Our Daily Bread Designs, well deserved as her creations are beautiful!

For this blog award, I am to list five things I like to do and then pass it along to five others. I have to admit, I am of two minds over these blog awards. They are sweet, they are special, but I think there is a scope for hurting other's feelings if they don't receive these awards. I try to spread them around, but if I miss someone, it isn't intentional.

1. I love, love, love going to church! :) I couldn't have said that as a kid, although I did like the pretty dresses, hairbows and matching purses my mom bought for me. You wouldn't know it to see me now, I wear jeans all the time, but if they made pretty matching hairbows for women my age I just might get dressed up again. But it isn't the attire that makes going to church so special, the worship lifts me up and the sermons help me make it through the week.

2. I enjoy my papercrafting, I find myself very absorbed and smiling almost the entire time. What a wonderful outlet we have!

3. I love spending time with my family when we are doing an activity together, playing a game, going to the beach, even eating dinner together. It is a rarity because they are all older and spend a lot of time away at school, with friends, at work. So that makes the times we have together more special.

4. I like hiking and walks through nature and forest preserves, and it would be hard to determine a favorite season for doing so. In the springtime you can count just as many shades of green as you can count brown in the Fall. I guess the added adventure in Fall is you get to crunch the leaves while you walk, always fun!

5. I enjoy reading, so much so that I've been known to vacuum while holding a well written novel in front of me, or have the book propped by the sink so I don't miss a paragraph while I wash dishes.

Welcome

Welcome to "Roses by my Window,” a place where I can share my creative journey and hopefully add a little beauty to the world. I love the Lord and love my family. I also knit and bake but here I’ll be sharing cards, trying new stamping techniques and attempting to improve even a wee bit each time I hit the craft table. Thanks for stopping to have a look!